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Hey guys, anyone have their gun safe on the 2nd story of their house? I may have convinced the wife into a gun safe but there's no way I'll be able to convince her it looks good anywhere downstairs. What is the max weight I should be looking at? I'm thinking 600lbs or less but maybe I'm overthinking?

Shouldn't be a problem. It's no different than having three grown men standing in that spot.
Also, the safe will more than likely be installed against or near a wall where support is even greater.

USA1 wrote:Shouldn't be a problem. It's no different than having three grown men standing in that spot. Also, the safe will more than likely be installed against or near a wall where support is even greater.

Getting it up there without gouging a wall or crushing your finger[s] or toe[s] is the biggest problem.

Years ago, I bought a gun safe that I didn't want to hassle with putting it upstairs. We finally decided to put it in the dining room. It was a model with double doors and painted black to look like an old bank safe. It amazed me that most people who came over for dinner did not even notice that it was there.

Make sure you get the total weight, empty, and then of course loaded as close as possible...The point load on most residential second floor joists and the associated flooring should be able to handle a moderate sized gunsafe 500-700#, and thats an empty load...Once you start loading it up, well, I'm sure it'll be fine, just don't overdo it...

It is not like it will all of a sudden collapse over anything below it...

Most installers of these gunsafes know how to get it in a house, and where you want it...Make sure before they do send it out on a truck to be delivered and installed that they know for sure where it is going...Clear a good path all the way from the front door to where you want it before they get there...

If they have a motorized dolly, one that can walk the unit up a flight of stairs, it should be a piece of cake...If you are sensitive about floor tile as the unit is being moved inside, lay down some cardboard boxes flat along the path across any floors like that, and if you can double or triple up on the actual place where the wheels of th edolly may roll the better, and make sure you put extra cardboard across the edges where the tile may transition to another floor surface like carpet or linoleum...The edges of the tile may crack real easily if you don't get something down to cushion the edges where the wheels of the dolly will roll...

A little planning and prep on the side of the customer is always appreciated from an installer in these cases...

Use the same kind of prep wherever you believe a tight turn may occur by protecting the walls temporarily...

Take measurements of the safe and walk the path prior to the safe getting there, and have a plan "B" ready to go just in case...

Just my opinion...

stevie_d_64 wrote:
A little planning and prep on the side of the customer is always appreciated from an installer in these cases...

Use the same kind of prep wherever you believe a tight turn may occur by protecting the walls temporarily...

Take measurements of the safe and walk the path prior to the safe getting there, and have a plan "B" ready to go just in case...

Just my opinion...

I install furniture right now for a living and if everyone did what you recommend MAN my life would be easy.

I don't know if Pony Express gun safes are still made but the main reason I bought one was because they were the only one that made safes 20" deep instead of 24". It doesn't stick out as far and it would have fit through a closet door in my house. I didn't put it in a closet but I still can. The other reason is the hinges are on the left instead of the right which is the only way it would work where I have it. I think I would worry a little about the weight upstairs too. My safe weighs around 600# but I think it could weigh double that with all the guns, ammo, fireproof boxes, etc that I have in there. It's so full a sheet of paper would barely fit. I should have gotten the 20 x 40 instead of the 20 x 30. That's the other thing. Everyone I know with a safe says they should have gotten a bigger one. So how big is big enough? I guess I would tell you to get one a little bigger than what you think you need, if it will fit.

Thanks for the advice guys. The safes I'm leaning towards is this one:
http://www.academy.com/index.php?page=c ... 00542-0021

It's a 24 gun, 450lb Cannon. The area upstairs I'm thinking of putting it is actually two exterior walls so I'm guessing thats a pretty stout area. The safe is really for my wife's jewelry and purses so they don't weight that much. I'll probably put a few guns in there Seriously though, I figure another 100 lbs or so inside with all my junk.

Some great pointers I wouldn't have even thought of. We have tile downstairs so definitely don't want to crack any.

Now I do have a large coat closet downstairs that I might be able to squeeze a safe in. But the door frame is 23" and the closet is only about 5 feet high (under stairs). Would probably be the last place a thief would look and they'd have to get through a bunch of coats to get back there. Only thing is....it's also hard for me to get to. And not real cool bringing your buddies into a small coat closet to show them your collection :) Believe me. I tried the dining room, master closet, master bedroom

jeeperbryan wrote:Thanks for the advice guys. The safes I'm leaning towards is this one:
http://www.academy.com/index.php?page=c ... 00542-0021

It's a 24 gun, 450lb Cannon. The area upstairs I'm thinking of putting it is actually two exterior walls so I'm guessing thats a pretty stout area. The safe is really for my wife's jewelry and purses so they don't weight that much. I'll probably put a few guns in there Seriously though, I figure another 100 lbs or so inside with all my junk.

Some great pointers I wouldn't have even thought of. We have tile downstairs so definitely don't want to crack any.

Now I do have a large coat closet downstairs that I might be able to squeeze a safe in. But the door frame is 23" and the closet is only about 5 feet high (under stairs). Would probably be the last place a thief would look and they'd have to get through a bunch of coats to get back there. Only thing is....it's also hard for me to get to. And not real cool bringing your buddies into a small coat closet to show them your collection :) Believe me. I tried the dining room, master closet, master bedroom

I almost bought that one from Academy you linked to, but i heard Tractor Supply had some.It looks the same inside but has nicer looking handles on it, same price $699.99 So i bought that one.They layed it flat in the back of my pick up and my neighbor helped me unload it(took pallet off before unloading).I just used a cheap dolly (put a tie down strap around it)..squished down tires but we got it in the house up three steps.That 450 lbs did not seem to bad weight wise what we did.I couple more people below helping push should be easy up stairs i'd think...
Mine here...Its in my man cave

one word of advice...buy for more guns than you own. I've just filled up safe #2 and am out of room now...

74novaman wrote:

stevie_d_64 wrote:
A little planning and prep on the side of the customer is always appreciated from an installer in these cases...

Use the same kind of prep wherever you believe a tight turn may occur by protecting the walls temporarily...

Take measurements of the safe and walk the path prior to the safe getting there, and have a plan "B" ready to go just in case...

Just my opinion...

I install furniture right now for a living and if everyone did what you recommend MAN my life would be easy.

I used to do appliances, so I know what the challenges were back then...It is almost an un-appreciated job, so I made the promise to myself to do things to make any future deliveries as painless as possible for the drivers and helpers...

G R E N A D E ! ! !

The Annoyed Man wrote:G R E N A D E ! ! !

Training granade....see the 30mm A10 case?

texjames wrote:

The Annoyed Man wrote:G R E N A D E ! ! !

Training granade....see the 30mm A10 case?

That's just a big rifle round... ...with a spent uranium bullet. But the G R E N A D E ! ! ! ...that's truly dangerous, inert or not. You chunk that at someone and hit them on the bean with it, they're going down.

I keep the big one downstairs, and a small(er) one upstairs.

Fawkes wrote:I keep the big one downstairs, and a small(er) one upstairs.

How big is your small one?